Dedication Ceremony: Building the Japanese Teahouse
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Johnson Gallery/Crit (208)78 Chateau Road
Middlebury, VT 05753 View in Campus Map
Open to the Public
On Thursday, January 29th, the College community and the public are invited to the dedication of the timber frame of a Japanese teahouse, built by twelve students over the course of the four-week 2026 Winter Term. The teahouse will be dedicated in a traditional Shinto ceremony.
Taught by Douglas Brooks, a builder of boats and other traditional structures who has extensive experience working in Japan, the course is entitled Building the Japanese Teahouse and seeks to introduce students to the pedagogy of Japanese apprenticeship. Class is conducted largely in silence; students are instead forced to learn relying on focus, perseverance, and observation.
Two students will talk about and demonstrate a tea ceremony; a practice closely linked to Zen Buddhism, in which an otherwise prosaic act–making a cup of tea–is highly ritualized. What on the one hand is simple is simultaneously complicated; participating in the tea ceremony focuses one’s attention on something specific, clearing one’s mind to contemplate what is universal.
The dedication will take place on Thursday, January 29th, at 4:30 pm in the Johnson Gallery, on the second floor of the Johnson Arts Building on the Middlebury campus. The teahouse will remain in the space as a centerpiece of an exhibit of Japanese textiles, entitled Cultural Fabrics, which runs from February 9th to March 13th.
- Sponsored by:
- History of Arts and Architecture and Studio Art
Contact Organizer
Boyd, Colin
colinb@middlebury.edu
5397